Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :Compression on steel will lead to changes in the mold cavity

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Based on consulting requests, I realize that a lot of people forget that huge forces are developed during the molding process, as a result of pressure levels exceeding often 1000 bar/100MPa.

That amounts to 1 metric Ton of equivalent force applied to each square cm of tool surface.

That is why clamp tonnage numbers are what they are of course.

But, no matter how good your steel or tool design is, metal will bend significantly when subjected to huge unbalanced forces.

And, even more surprisingly, for balanced forces, the cavity will expand by "compressing" the steel by quite a few microns !

You can run a quick FEA to check that, by applying 1000-2000 bar on a piece of steel.

Of course tubular shaped parts will readily see significant core shift problems as soon as flow is slightly unbalanced, since a differential of a few Tons-force can quickly appear if flow is not perfectly balanced. The problem here is, of course, that the more the core deflects, the more the unbalance grows. So it is a bad case of positive feedback leading to catastrophic results (unexpected weldlines in the thinned side towards which the core has been bent/pushed).

Don't underestimate the importance of these effects in molding.

While coupling Flow Analysis with stress analysis on the steel structure can supposedly model this, it is very challenging to describe the complex tool assembly. And such coupled approaches can be very challenging numerically. So, while core-shifting predictions are now quite standard, full tool deflections are usually neglected in simulations. And the clear tendency of steel compressibility to lead to overpack is never accounted for.

source:Vito Leo

#polymers #injectionmolding

Orion S.A. signs supply agreement for tire pyrolysis oil with Contec S.A.

Orion S.A, a global specialty chemicals company, announced today it has signed a long-term supply agreement with Contec S.A., which will provide Orion tire pyrolysis oil to produce circular carbon black for tire and rubber goods customers.

The agreement with Warsaw, Poland-based Contec further enables Orion to diversify its sources of tire pyrolysis oil, commonly known as TPO.

“With the ConPyro® TPO supplied by Contec, Orion will be able to make large-scale volumes of circular grades of carbon black that will supply growing demand from the world’s leading tire and rubber goods producers,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said. “This is yet another way that Orion is accelerating the transition to a circular economy.”

TPO-based manufacturing is the only circular technology that is moving into industrial production to produce high-quality active carbon black. The process takes discarded end-of-life tires and exposes them to high temperatures to produce a feedstock Orion can convert into virgin carbon black.

Orion is the only company that has made circular carbon black from 100% TPO as a feedstock. The company has also demonstrated that its circular products can replace virgin carbon black in many applications.

“At Contec, sustainability is one of our core values. This partnership is a clear confirmation to the market that the industry is continuously evolving, and the circular economy is no longer just a vision for the future - thanks to collaboration with Orion, it is becoming a tangible reality today,” said Krzysztof Wróblewski, CEO of Contec S.A.

source: Orion S.A.

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : The Stache Lab discovers startling mechanism to promote depolymerization

The Stache Lab discovers startling mechanism to promote depolymerization

Turns out that the black plastic lid atop your coffee cup has a superpower. And the Stache Lab, which uncovered it, is exploiting that property to recycle at least two major types of plastic.

Their startling mechanism for promoting depolymerization relies on an additive that many plastics already contain: a pigment called carbon black that gives plastic its black color. Through a process called photothermal conversion, intense light is focused on plastic containing the pigment to jumpstart the degradation.

So far, researchers have shown that carbon black can depolymerize polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), two of the least recycled plastics in the planet’s waste stream. The lab’s most recent pair of papers showcases the potential.

First, in ACS Central Science at the end of last year, there was a proof-of concept for the depolymerization of polystyrene using a common Fresnel lens to focus photonic energy. Then, earlier this month, the lab published their method to upcycle PVC in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

In both cases, carbon black serves as the trigger of the breakdown, a quality Assistant Professor of Chemistry Erin Stache discovered recently and that even industrial partners she has spoken with were unaware of. The lab’s method has since been tried out on such post-consumer waste as PVC pipes, black construction pipes, trash bags, credit cards, even those ubiquitous yellow rubber duckies.

“The surprising thing, especially with the black polystyrene depolymerization, is that they’ve been manufacturing these materials for decades and it seems no one recognized that this was possible,” said Stache. “Under ambient sunlight, the energy is not sufficient to break down these polymers. But if you increase the light intensity enough, then you start seeing the depolymerization.

“Plastics are facing a lot of criticism right now, and we are starting to learn the consequences of it building up in the environment. We can certainly change our habits to help alleviate the amount of plastic we use. But we’re not going to get rid of our dependence on plastic. So can we think of it instead as a resource? Can we turn it into other commodity chemicals that we have to make anyway? We have found that we can.

A good yield

In their ACS paper, researchers showed that unmodified post-consumer black polystyrene samples were successfully depolymerized to a styrene monomer without adding catalysts or solvent. Simple, focused radiation on the plastic provided monomer yields of up to 80% in just five minutes.

“I think this marriage between photothermal and depolymerization strategies is really groundbreaking. Black colored plastic accounts for ~15% of all plastics, and we found that 10-weight percent of black polystyrene in plastic mixture is enough to give good yield,” said Hanning Jiang, co-first author on the paper.

Carbon black absorbs all the way from UV to IR, and that’s great because what we want is for this agent to take as much light as possible and transform light into heat.”

Jiang noted that the lab’s mechanistic studies on the process are continuing.Co-first author and graduate student Sewon Oh emphasized: “Carbon black is an additive here. In industry, a lot of products like tires and inks have carbon black. We take advantage of what is already incorporated in plastics to depolymerize back to monomer.

“In this paper,” he added, “we primarily focused on depolymerizing polystyrene. However, we envision and also expect that our method can be extended to other types of polymers.”

In short order, researchers adapted their method to PVC and received strong results. They extended the process by adding polystyrene into the PVC-carbon black mixture—“We basically spatula it in,” said Stache—and were able to upcycle the material and then derivatize it into a couple of common consumer products: a fragrance precursor and a heart disease drug.

Part of the challenge of recycling PVC is that the material has carbon-chlorine bonds that generate hydrochloric acid (HCl) whether it’s being recycled mechanically or chemically. Hydrochloric acid is very corrosive and highly toxic.

“We used carbon black to initiate the thermal degradation of PVC, generate HCl with an acceptor for HCl that reacts to make an adduct,” Stache explained. “So you can basically access a new commodity chemical from the process. We take advantage of what is normally a bad process – the HCl – and add it to another commodity chemical and then we get a new product.

“You can use plastic waste as a feed stock for commodity chemical production, whether it be to make polystyrene or this adduct which is very versatile and you can make several different products from it.”

source:Princeton University

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : The Natural Gas vehicle market in India

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

The Natural Gas vehicle market in India

The natural gas vehicle segment reached 30 million vehicles in 2024 and it seems to be moving ahead of witnessing many CNG variants in the global market in the next 3 years. Asia Pacific is leading with 21 million Natural Gas Vehicles(NGV) followed by Latin America with 6 million NGV’s and Europe with 2 million and North America NGV fill the spots respectively.

The Natural Gas Vehicle market has witnessed continuous improvements in various parts designs, processes and is also imposed by stringent regulations throughout all geographical regions in the global market. The natural gas industry will grow along with the Hydrogen market in the forthcoming years and CNG fuel stations will be available in all Indian cities with its matured technology in all segments.

As far as the Indian NGV market is concerned, the market is driving with opening up new CNG stations in various parts of the country. The infrastructure for the transportation of CNG is in the fast phase with a lot of projects in India in recent years. Maruti Suzuki has a stronghold in the NGV market with its variants like Celerio,Dzire, Brezza, Baleno,Tata Nexon/Punch,Suzuki Eeco, Ertiga,Grand Vitara,Toyota's Urban Cruiser Taisor, Hyundai Grand I10 Nios,Aura etc. Maruti Suzuki has witnessed 15% CAGR for the past 5 consecutive years in the Indian market.

Muthruamalingam Krishnan

#cng #NGV #composites #type4cylinders

Avient Expands Flame Retardant Solutions Portfolio for Wire and Cable with ECCOH™ XL 8054

Avient Corporation, an innovator of materials solutions, announces an expansion of its ECCOH™ XL Cross-Linkable Flame Retardant Solutions with the launch of ECCOH XL 8054. Developed for low smoke and fume wire and cable insulation, this solution can meet stringent electrical and electronic fire safety regulations in Europe.

One of the key advantages of ECCOH XL 8054 is its excellent processability due to its ability to meet the Commission Electrotechnique Internationale (CEI) EN 50363-0:2015 standards, namely G17 and G18, and adhere to the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) for enhanced fire safety. Compared to traditional elastomeric compounds, it can be processed using standard single-screw extrusion equipment, eliminating the need for a continuous vulcanization (CV) line. This streamlined manufacturing process can not only reduce production costs but also increase line speed, offering a cost-effective and efficient solution for manufacturers.

ECCOH XL 8054 also excels in mechanical properties, with high elongation at break and outstanding performance in the Hot Set Test at 250°C. With these attributes, it can be used in a variety of applications, including shipbuilding, railways, building and construction, and solar cables.

"We are dedicated to providing a smooth integration of ECCOH XL 8054 for our customers,” said Hermann Fuechter, Senior Marketing & Product Manager EMEA, Specialty Engineered Materials at Avient. “Our advanced development and technical services teams offer a collaborative strategy to optimize equipment and processes, enabling a seamless transition and enhanced performance." 

source : Avient 

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Carbon Fiber Commercial Use

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Carbon Fiber Commercial Use:

Commercial adoption of carbon fiber-reinforced composites began to accelerate in the late 1970s and early 1980s with applications in military and commercial aircraft as well as recreational products such as golf club shafts and tennis rackets. The cost/benefit trade-off has been a challenge for carbon fibers since their introduction. In the early days, aircraft designers were eager to gain the weight-savings benefits of carbon fiber composites but were working with composites as “black aluminum,” and the relative higher cost of carbon fiber versus aluminum limited its adoption in commercial aerospace.

Military aircraft and weapon systems as well as recreational products led the growth in demand for carbon fiber while commercial aerospace continued its understanding of the true benefits composites could deliver. With the innovative use of carbon fiber composites on the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, carbon fiber composites have become an enabling technology for the most advanced commercial aircraft.

source:Tom Haulik (Hexcel)

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air

Plastic recycling gets a breath of fresh air : Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air

Harnessing moisture from air, Northwestern University chemists have developed a simple new method for breaking down plastic waste.

The non-toxic, environmentally friendly, solvent-free process first uses an inexpensive catalyst to break apart the bonds in polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most common plastic in the polyester family. Then, the researchers merely expose the broken pieces to ambient air. Leveraging the trace amounts of moisture in air, the broken-down PET is converted into monomers the crucial building blocks for plastics. From there, the researchers envision the monomers could be recycled into new PET products or other, more valuable materials.

Safer, cleaner, cheaper and more sustainable than current plastic recycling methods, the new technique, published in the journal Green Chemistry, offers a promising path toward creating a circular economy for plastics.

The U.S. is the number one plastic polluter per capita, and we only recycle 5% of those plastics,” said Northwestern’s Yosi Kratish, the study’s co-corresponding author. “There is a dire need for better technologies that can process different types of plastic waste. Most of the technologies that we have today melt down plastic bottles and downcycle them into lower-quality products. What’s particularly exciting about our research is that we harnessed moisture from air to break down the plastics, achieving an exceptionally clean and selective process. By recovering the monomers, which are the basic building blocks of PET, we can recycle or even upcycle them into more valuable materials.

“Our study offers a sustainable and efficient solution to one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges: plastic waste,” said Naveen Malik, the study’s first author. “Unlike traditional recycling methods, which often produce harmful byproducts like waste salts and require significant energy or chemical inputs, our approach uses a solvent-free process that relies on trace moisture from ambient air. This makes it not only environmentally friendly but also highly practical for real-world applications.

An expert in plastic recycling, Kratish is a research assistant professor of chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Kratish co-led the study with Tobin J. Marks, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Weinberg and a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. At the time of the research, Malik was an postdoctoral fellow in Marks’ laboratory; now he is a research assistant professor at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in India.

The plastic problem:

Commonly used in food packaging and beverage bottles, PET plastics represent 12% of total plastics used globally. Because it does not break down easily, PET is a major contributor to plastic pollution. After use, it either ends up in landfills or, over time, degrades into tiny microplastics or nanoplastics, which often end up in wastewater and waterways.

Finding new ways to recycle plastic is a hot topic in research. But current methods to break down plastics require harsh conditions, including extremely high temperatures, intense energy and solvents, which generate toxic byproducts. The catalysts used in these reactions also are often expensive (like platinum and palladium) or toxic, creating even more harmful waste. Then, after the reaction is performed, researchers have to separate the recycled materials from the solvents, which can be a time-consuming and energy-intensive process.

In previous work, Marks’ group at Northwestern became the first to develop catalytic processes that do not require solvents. In the new study, the team again devised a solvent-free process.

“Using solvents has many disadvantages,” Kratish said. “They can be expensive, and you have to heat them up to high temperatures. Then, after the reaction, you are left with a soup of materials that you have to sort to recover the monomers. Instead of using solvents, we used water vapor from air. It’s a much more elegant way to tackle plastic recycling issues.

An ‘elegant’ solution:

To conduct the new study, the researchers used a molybdenum catalyst and activated carbon both of which are inexpensive, abundant and non-toxic materials. To initiate the process, the researchers added PET to the catalyst and activated carbon and then heated up the mixture. Polyester plastics are large molecules with repeating units, which are linked together with chemical bonds. After a short period of time, the chemical bonds within the plastic broke apart.

Next, the researchers exposed the material to air. With the tiny bit of moisture from air, the material turned into terephthalic acid (TPA) — the highly valuable precursor to polyesters. The only byproduct was acetaldehyde, a valuable, easy-to-remove industrial chemical.

“Air contains a significant amount of moisture, making it a readily available and sustainable resource for chemical reactions,” Malik said. “On average, even in relatively dry conditions, the atmosphere holds about 10,000 to15,000 cubic kilometers of water. Leveraging air moisture allows us to eliminate bulk solvents, reduce energy input and avoid the use of aggressive chemicals, making the process cleaner and more environmentally friendly.”

“It worked perfectly,” Kratish said. “When we added extra water, it stopped working because it was too much water. It’s a fine balance. But it turns out the amount of water in air was just the right amount.”

Endless advantages:

The resulting process is fast and effective. In just four hours, 94% of the possible TPA was recovered. The catalyst also is durable and recyclable, meaning it can be used time and time again without losing effectiveness. And the method works with mixed plastics, selectively recycling only polyesters. With its selective nature, the process bypasses the need to sort the plastics before applying the catalyst a major economic advantage for the recycling industry.

When the team tested the process on real-world materials like plastic bottles, shirts and mixed plastic waste, it proved just as effective. It even broke down colored plastics into pure, colorless TPA.

Next, the researchers plan to increase the scale of the process for industrial use. By optimizing the process for large-scale applications, the researchers aim to ensure it can handle vast quantities of plastic waste.

“Our technology has the potential to significantly reduce plastic pollution, lower the environmental footprint of plastics and contribute to a circular economy where materials are reused rather than discarded,” Malik said. “It’s a tangible step toward a cleaner, greener future, and it demonstrates how innovative chemistry can address global challenges in a way that aligns with nature.

source: Amanda Morris- orthwestern University